Reply to Peng Dehuai’s Telegram [I]
(September 10, 1949)

Concentrate attention on striving to advance into Xinjiang from Yumen in early to mid-November. Regarding the matters you are to prepare on your own, please press ahead with them promptly. Apart from tents, canteens, and grain, you did not mention leather coats, leather caps, and felt boots. These are very important and must be prepared immediately. Do you need us to help you procure leather coats, and how many are needed? Please inform us at once. Tao Zhiyue, Zhao Xiguang [2], and others have already prepared to reach a peaceful settlement with us. The Chairman of Xinjiang, Burhan, has already sent personnel to the vicinity of Ili to initiate peace negotiations. We have ordered Deng Liqun to lead a radio team to enter Dihua within the next few days. Therefore, Xinjiang is no longer a question of war but a question of peaceful settlement. Today we invited Zhang Zhizhong for a formal discussion and asked him to help resolve the Xinjiang issue and to undertake work responsibilities on the Xinjiang side (specific positions have not yet been mentioned). He expressed his willingness to follow directives and is ready to do any work.

This is the main content of Mao Zedong’s reply to Peng Dehuai. This telegram also proposed:
A Northwest Military and Political Committee should be established to govern the five provinces of the Northwest, with Peng Dehuai as director, and Xi Zhongxun, Zhao Shoushan, Zhang Zhizhong, and Deng Baoshan as deputy directors, with the office located in Lanzhou or Xi’an;
Zhang Zhizhong should serve as director of the Xinjiang Military and Political Committee, with Wang Zhen and two to three individuals from ethnic minorities as deputy directors (or perhaps with the addition of Tao Zhiyue), to serve as the transitional organ for Xinjiang.

[2] Zhao Xiguang, then serving as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Xinjiang Provincial Garrison of the Kuomintang Army and concurrently Commander of the Reorganized 42nd Division.